LOW GPA advice

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ar4412

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Hi All-
Having a low undergrad GPA is seriously discouraging. I was wondering if you all could tell me if I'm wasting my time.
Undergrad is from BU 2.56, major is in an unrelated field. I went through the loss of a best friend and roommate which really left me apathetic towards school and my grades...however it turned me on to medicine.
Since college I have worked for almost 2 years as a dental assistant, my functions are very broad. I am lucky to work for someone who challenges me and pushes me to understand the ins and outs of dentistry.
I love what I do. With in 2 months of working as a DA I knew I wanted to become a dentist.

So, all that being said, I plan to attend a post bac at UMD to get my sciences while working as a dental assistant part time. Assuming I get as close as possible to a 4.0 and a great score on the DATs...what do you think my chances are for getting into dental school after this?

Thanks so much, I appreciate any responses or advice I can get!!

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Hi All-
Having a low undergrad GPA is seriously discouraging. I was wondering if you all could tell me if I'm wasting my time.
Undergrad is from BU 2.56, major is in an unrelated field. I went through the loss of a best friend and roommate which really left me apathetic towards school and my grades...however it turned me on to medicine.
Since college I have worked for almost 2 years as a dental assistant, my functions are very broad. I am lucky to work for someone who challenges me and pushes me to understand the ins and outs of dentistry.
I love what I do. With in 2 months of working as a DA I knew I wanted to become a dentist.

So, all that being said, I plan to attend a post bac at UMD to get my sciences while working as a dental assistant part time. Assuming I get as close as possible to a 4.0 and a great score on the DATs...what do you think my chances are for getting into dental school after this?

Thanks so much, I appreciate any responses or advice I can get!!

your chances will be good, but don't slack and get that 4.0. balancing work and school is good but if work gets in the way then quit your job and focus on school. you might not have any luck first go around but don't let that discourage you.
 
Doing a post-bacc with high marks will definitely help you. No one in their right minds can tell you what kind of chance you really have EVEN if you get a 4.0 in every class.... Its just an impossible thing to measure

However, based on my exposure to the dental admission process, I can tell you right now that schools love to see mature students taking the initiative and pursuing this career path even if they had a terrible start in their undergrad years.

If you REALLY want dentistry, then you should do EVERYTHING in your power to try to get in even if people tell you that you have zero chance of ever making it.... How can anyone REALLY know if you have a chance or not? Statistically speaking, your low undergrad GPA suggests it will be harder for you to get into dental school. The Keyword is "harder" but not "impossible".

Good luck to ya, I wish you not get discouraged and just put your 100% effort into your post-bacc, only good things can come out of it
 
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I too am trying to show strong upward trends... my advice: OP make sure you set yourself up for success (to get that 4.0). Last term I was able to pull it off... I took o-chem, physiology, convo spanish, and genetics. However - this term has given me so much trouble due to scheduling. I took microbio (A), o-chem2 (A), anatomy (B+) and biochem (B+). Biochem was an insane course for me and turned into a study time pit. On top of that EVERY anatomy practical I had came right after a biochem exam. moral - really look into what days your classes fall on as this can directly affect your class performance = a semester upward trend fail.
 
Wow, thanks to you all for the advice and words of encouragement. It's definitely nice to know I'm not the only one in this boat. I wish I had known in my undergrad what I wanted to do with my life and how important my transcript would be.... can't change the past though!
Good luck to everyone in this situation, hard work and passion will make us great at what we end up doing :)
 
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